


Flight Partner

by GabrielsCake



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Extended AU, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-14 17:45:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16497272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabrielsCake/pseuds/GabrielsCake
Summary: A possibly tamer extension of my other fanfiction, Fighter Pilot. it will have the same characters but with more insight into their characters and particularly memories. the same kind-of OC will be present. i'm planning on this being a sort of sequel with some bits of prequel mixed in. mainly, what happens before and after the events of Fighter Pilot.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> still in its bullet point form, this is likely to be shorter overall than FP. We'll see how it goes.

There is the way Adam saw things, the way his beloved Shiro saw things, and the way the Anathema saw things. 

-the way Shiro saw things, his life just wasn't meant to be all too happy. No matter how hard he tried, he just had to keep sacrificing his happiness for the good of his parents, his grandfather, Adam, the Paladins, an alien race he shouldn't have had anything to do with, the entire universe. If there is a God, he told his therapist, then God only wanted him alive to torture him and do His bidding.   
-The Anathema, disguised as Shiro's composed therapist with the assumed name of Gabe, knows better. He knows that there are better things in store for Shiro's future,and that if he holds on to life just a little bit longer, all of this will be worth it.   
-instead of saying anything yet, Gabe listened to Shiro leaving his heart on his sleeve, something he hadn't done in at least several years.   
-after a long moment of silence, Gabe gave him some advice:   
-"Today and yesterday and the days before that have treated you horribly. But tomorrow might not. The only way to find out is to be there, and the only way to be sure it'll happen is to take action. You need to forgive yourself for what you've done."  
-A week later, Shiro learned of finding Haggar and the Blade and refused anyone's attempts to talk him out of going. 

-the way Adam saw things, humans exploring outer space was a horrible idea. If nobody had gone looking for alien life, then Takashi would never have gone to Kerberos, he'd never have been kidnapped, and the chain of events that led to whatever the fuck happened to them would never have separated Adam from happiness. Or safety.   
-Although, if the Galaxy Garrison had never been formed, he and Takashi would probably never have met.  
-but what about how in alternate dimensions the same events keep on repeating with the same people? Maybe they'd be together there. Maybe he'd be happy.   
-this was one of Adam's bad days, when he couldn't help but let memories and fantasies carry him away from a dank cell with alien strangers he should never have met, his destroyed vision leaving him dark and lost.   
-he didn't want to fantasize because when the dream is over, it'd leave him more hopeless than before.   
-but if he only thought about what was real, he would think himself to insanity.  
-What the Anathema hears is a broken man singing to himself, his voice echoing around the cell. The few alien species grouped with him edge away from his corner, scared of his eerie, melancholy voice.   
-Adam is singing mostly old folk songs and lullabies--the kind of thing heard in the morning, or at a wedding. Or a funeral.  
-She wants to join him. Partly to let the other prisoners know that Adam isn't planning on killing any of them before he's forced to, partly because the sound of Adam's lone voice is heart wrenching, particularly the song he's on now: Hallelujah, the song written over and over by anyone who liked the tune.   
-"Maybe there's a God above...but all I've ever learned from love is how to shoot somebody who outdrew you. And it's not a cry you hear at night; it's not somebody who's seen the light; it's a cold and it's a broken...hallelujah."  
-but there's movement down the hall. Anathema turns.   
-Haggar, flanked by several of her druids, is approaching. Several emotions are hidden in that smile. It's obvious she's planning something wicked, something morbid enough to distract her from her failed family. Since Haggar is choosing to tell the Anathema about it, what's on her mind has to do with Anathema's warriors.   
-Anathema's mood turns apprehensive. She had long since sworn to herself to do her absolute best to keep Haggar's prisoners alive, or to die with a peace of mind. Especially Adam. Luckily, she's only had to train one Earthen before him, but she didn't get a chance to ensure that Takashi Shirogane had returned home alive.   
-Haggar stops a foot away from her. The Anathema likes presenting herself as taller than Haggar. She also prefers to appear human, slender but strong, standing straight like a soldier, which is rather hard to look like while barefoot, but the twenty foot onyx wings sure helps intimidate. Those wings aren't necessary, but they have sentimental meaning for her.  
-also, Haggar hates them.  
-"I have something in store for you and your son."  
-Anathema wants to snap back that at least she herself knows more about raising a son than Haggar and just have that final fight she's been planning since the beginning, but they're far too close to the prisoners to avoid the risk of hurting them. She bites her tongue and waits for Haggar to continue.  
-"We still have several clones of the Champion left over. We can create more. I know that you've trained the original well enough, but before I am sure we should use them as soldiers, I want you to train them all. Then we will see if they can defeat your prized pet. If they can, they become soldiers. If they can't, then our new Champion will be cloned and we will use him instead."  
-"Why do I get the feeling you're hiding something from me?"  
-Haggar scowls. "All will be revealed in good time."  
-there's an unsteady silence between the two of them. It's common knowledge amongst every Galra on board that their empress and the scary winged gladiator trainer do not trust each other in the least. What isn't common knowledge among anyone is that Anathema is planning a revolt.  
-"Haggar, be honest with me. What happened to the real Champion, and where is Voltron?"  
-She only has to look at Haggar to know the real answer. She says that he is dead, strangled by Zarkon, and that Voltron is destroyed. But once again, Anathema knows better.   
-So she pretends to believe the failing empress. Haggar and her silent druids leave, barely suspecting a thing of her.  
-In the cell beside her, Adam is still singing. She can hear plenty of things he can't, but the walls of the cells of a gladiator ship are sound proof. He has no idea of his coming nightmare.   
-She joins him in song, though he nor anyone in that cell can hear her. They harmonize with American Pie.   
"And while the King was looking down, the Jester stole his thorny crown...the court room was adjourned, no verdict was returned. While Lennon read a book of Marx, the Quartet practiced in the park, and we sang dirges in the dark the day the music died."


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first update of this fic said there was only one chapter, but i made a mistake. multiple chapters are coming before December 14th.

On earth, it is night.   
-Shiro can't sleep. After his therapy session, he feels both liberated and empty. There isn't so much holed up inside him, but he still feels like there's a hole where something used to be. He allows himself some time to reflect on what might be missing from his life, aside from the obvious.   
-His parents never really agreed with his choices. They supported his decision to join the Galaxy Garrison, but only reluctantly. His Ojiichan, his grandfather, supported him in whatever he did, saying that it was written in the stars, and one day Shiro would go see those stars himself and read their stories.   
-He and Adam were friends since they were about Pidge's age. He remembers being close to him...  
-recollection time is over now. He takes too much trazodone and doesn't wake up until far too late the next day.

-Adam's internal clock has long been out of whack, and he trusts Bob and the other prisoners to keep track of when to sleep and wake up.   
-It's been a long, hard day. Bob had been training him extra hard, sending opponents from all directions. He knows that his next real fight is going to be with something he's never faced before. Plenty of soldiers and higher-ups have been gossiping about which new terror the gladiators would have to go through. Adam doesn't care--just so long as he never has to be stuck in one of those reverse bear traps.   
-Adam is feeling significantly bored. Just to give himself something to do, he stands up. Stumbles forward until he hits a solid wall. He turns left, and follows the wall until he reaches the corner. He doesn't have to try very hard to avoid the other prisoners, as they're already terrified of him. They all scoot away as he feels along the edges of the cell. He doesn't even realize it himself until one of the other prisoners says in a whisper, "he's trying to find a way out."  
-"So I might be. But what's the use? They'd find me easily enough, even if I do escape and hide. And even if I found a way off this fucking ship, I'd have to find my way around all of space, completely blind, while my home planet is destroyed or overrun by these monsters. We've lost."  
-Though he can't stop searching the walls for any sort of crack or seam, he repeats, over and over, "We've lost. We've lost. We've lost. We've lost. We've lost. We've lost. We've lost. We've lost. We've lost. We've lost..."  
-After what feels like forever, he finally gives up and slumps, defeated, against the too-smooth walls. He knows he's going insane in here.   
-The cell door slides open, then swiftly shut.   
-It's Bob. She strides over to him, then stops and sits down with him.   
-She puts a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me your favorite memory."  
-Bob is the only person allowed to touch Adam at all. She knows when he needs a comforting hand and when to just leave him be.   
-but she only requests prisoners to tell her their favorite memory when she has a feeling that what they're scheduled to fight is something they just can't kill, so she can do her best to give them a peace of mind before they're brutally killed in the arena for sport.  
-She's sentimental like that.   
-Adam grabs onto the hand on his shoulder, somewhat surprised to see that it feels completely human. He briefly wonders how similar Galra and Earthens really are.  
-Very clearly he asks, "Am I going to die tomorrow?"  
-she pauses for a moment, considers her answer, then says quietly, "Perhaps. Perhaps not. You're pitted against another human. That's all Haggar will let me say."   
-She asks for his favorite memory again, but Adam knows it's less of a request and more of a plea. As much as the other officers tease her about Adam being her son, and as violent as the gladiator life has made her, Anathema truly does care for him in her own way.   
-Adam has to think. He hasn't allowed himself happy memories as of late.   
-So he thinks of his family. His sisters, Carmen, Maria, Rebekah, and Luciana. His mother, how she always taught him to love and forgive.   
-He thinks of Takashi. He doesn't want to, but he can't lie to himself: Takashi had made Adam happy.  
-Adam's happiest memory? Easy. The day he realized that Takashi loved him back.  
-They had been friends at the garrison for a while, but one day Adam has found Takashi struggling not to cry after a phone call with his parents.   
-Adam had asked if he was okay, (clearly not) and after a long pause Shiro told him that he was spending the holidays with his grandfather after a fight with his parents. Another long pause, and he said they didn't want him home because he's gay.  
-This shook him. Adam had barely acknowledged that homophobia even existed before. Sure, there's the occasional weirdo like his shitty uncle who went around telling people that their sexuality is a sin, but the concept of parents disowning their own kids for being gay? No chance.  
-Adam simply told Takashi that he was welcome at Adam's place any time.  
-Shiro was the one who developed a crush on Adam first. He later told Adam that it was over Christmas break, at Adam's house, listening to his sisters chatter in Portuguese and leaning on Adam's shoulder.   
-From then on, he did a bunch of dumb shit to try and impress Adam. Shiro thought it embarrassing but Adam found his shenanigans charming.  
-Then late one night, on their way to bed, Takashi absentmindedly said, "love you," and Adam was g o n e.  
-His attempts to get Takashi alone with him failed spectacularly, and it wasn't like he could just ask him on a date at the garrison.   
-but right after Valentine's day they got a chance to be alone in their dorms together. They sat awkwardly on the love seat in really tense silence because both want to say something but are too scared to make the first move. Until Adam checked his pockets for any leftover candy to gift to Takashi.   
-realizing that there was only one piece of chocolate left, Adam got brave.   
-He showed it to Takashi and said, in the flirtiest voice he had and what he later thinks is a fit of insanity, "Wanna share?"  
-before Takashi could ask how they'd share a tiny piece of chocolate between them, Adam unwrapped it, stuck the chocolate in his mouth, and closed the gap between them.   
-After a short good bit of kissing they both were left breathless and, to quote Dodie Clark, absolutely smitten.   
-Adam brings himself back to reality. They were so innocent back then.  
-What he'd really like to ask The Anathema is for his innocence back: to have his only worries be whether he'd impressed Takashi or not.  
-But what he tells her is, "I want to see my family again. I want to know what happened to all of them, even Takashi. I know you can't give me that, but I want it all the same."  
-She makes a sound of pleasant surprise. "Yes, I can. And I like that you asked for that, because you will get it no matter the outcome of tomorrow's battle. It will be my parting gift if you die, and my reward to you if you win. I have my faith in you that you'll survive."  
-She leaves him there, with memories he doesn't know what to do with.


End file.
